As I said to Deputy Kyne earlier, the number of nurses and midwives graduating every year is completely visible, known, factual and available in every region. On 1 January every year, as every region plans its recruitment for the year, it should know that and anticipate that that workforce will be available, that we have trained them, that they are excellent and that we want them to work in the public health service.…
TDs / Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Minister for Health
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
182,871
words spoken in the chamber
179,569 as a minister, 3,302 as a TD
355
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
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Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 710 in all
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| May 2025 | 52 |
| June 2025 | 52 |
| July 2025 | 44 |
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| October 2026 | 91 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 567 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Dún Laoghaire 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Health 23 January 2025 to now
I totally agree. They deserve to be treated with respect. The west and north west is, of the four regions in escalation, the least bad and is capable of coming down from about 2.4%. If it gets under 2%, it can come out of the escalated control. It is not in as bad a situation as some of the other regions. That said, it needs to continue to make progress on getting within budget. This has an impact on people's lives. …
This House, representing the people, has spent considerable money on the training of those nurses and midwives. They have trained in our universities and hospitals and we want to retain them. We value them and their expertise and we want them to be in the Irish health service. I am informed there are currently seven permanent midwife vacancies in maternity services in University Hospital Galway. There have also been …
As the Deputy and I have discussed before, the primary care centre in Gorey had been identified and a tender process was undertaken. This concluded unsuccessfully, which was extremely disappointing and resulted in the centre being delayed. A new tender process had to be commenced.
Following advertisement on the e-tenders procurement platform, I am pleased to confirm that the HSE has advised the tender process has no…
I look forward to it greatly.
This is outrageous. He is factually wrong in everything he said. It is outrageous.
I thank the Deputy. There is a need to recruit strategically and the fact that graduates graduate every year is completely known within the health system and needs to be planned for every year. In relation to the north west, this was a particular issue when graduate nurses were offered positions and then those offers were withdrawn. A total of 307 nurses and midwives graduated this year, 224 of whom have been offered…
Nationally, there are 1,375 graduate nurses and midwives this year. Of these, 1,145 have been offered positions and more than 1,000 have accepted. That is a national offer rate of 83%. That is different in some regions. In the Deputy's region, this year so far the hospital has recruited an additional 139 people. I commend the Deputy's hospital and region. Despite having the highest increase in attendance in the emerg…
However, 83% of the nurses have received an offer at this point.
I was very pleased to be in Gorey recently with Deputy Brennan. I recognise his advocacy on this very important issue of the primary care centre in Gorey, which has previously been discussed. I have a good update for the Deputy. I am pleased to confirm that the HSE has advised that the second tender process that was unfortunately necessary has now completed stage two, which is a priced offer. The tenders have been re…
There is no pay and numbers strategy. There has only been recruitment this year, including in Wexford. I will investigate the specific OT issue because, for example, an additional 102 general health and social care professionals have been recruited into Wexford Hospital. The Deputy may be speaking in relation to the community, but the staff number has increased everywhere, particularly in the Deputy’s region and part…
I welcome the opportunity to discuss Kathleen Lynn and the children's hospital. I thank the Deputy for bringing this forward.
The children’s hospital project is one of the most significant investments in our health service. It is our commitment to improving how we deliver care, but it is much more about the future than it is about a building. It is about the future of paediatric care in Ireland. It is about the chil…
As I walked into the Chamber, I heard the Opposition spokesperson and Cathaoirleach of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health, Deputy Rice, describe the Taoiseach as speaking lies when he challenged some of the rhetoric around the Opposition analysis of the budget-----
Sorry, but that is precisely what the Deputy said and I am entitled to defend the Taoiseach and the wider Government. The Deputy is the Oireachtas health committee's Chair. Shortly after that, he described today’s headlines as part of his budget analysis on what the health spend could and should be. He comes from a region where we opened a surgical hub last week, which is staffed and ready to service patients. He has…
It did not recruit in a way that was strategic to ensure that the graduate nurses, whom we know need to be hired every October, had places. We know the surgical hub needed to open. The region did not plan or hire strategically. The vacancies to which the Deputy alluded come from a hospital that has recruited 233 people just this year, which, in many cases, is two or three times the recruitment level in equivalent hos…
Exactly.
What?
The drug was approved-----
I was in Tallaght on Friday and the CEO confirmed that services will begin on 2 October now that the drug is physically in the country. We will get more of it as time goes by. Services begin on 2 October, which is the earliest possible time we could do. I spoke with the CEO on Friday and this will impact on and disrupt other neurology services but they are moving heaven and earth to make sure patients can get it as q…
Some 52% of people in Ireland have either a medical or GP access card. An extraordinary number of people have access to those services. Demand on the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, which includes medical cards in the drugs budget, is increasing every year. Our budget is increasing every year and that is to provide services to the people who need them.
Some 52% of people qualify.
I take it the Deputy has already spoken to local HSE services and exhausted all of the local integrated healthcare areas, IHA, and regional options before raising this in the Dáil with myself and the Taoiseach, who have no knowledge as to the circumstances of this and cannot possibly respond to him?
I will follow up with the HSE but I assume he has taken it through those local channels before raising it here. I thank him.
Tomorrow, we celebrate World Pharmacists Day 2026. Of course, it is World Pharmacists Week. This year's theme, chosen by the International Pharmaceutical Federation, is empowering pharmacists for healthier futures. It is an appropriate theme for Ireland. Over the past year, we have taken significant steps to empower pharmacists to play a broader and more clinical role within our health service. Through new services, …
I do not think the Deputy has-----
I met Pavee Point recently. I will.